FABIAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL THOUGHT
Series One: The Papers of Edward Carpenter, 1844-1929, from Sheffield Archives

Part 1: Correspondence and Manuscripts

"one of the torchbearers; an exemplar of a loftier England"   Walt Whitman

Edward Carpenter was a leading figure in late 19th and early 20th century Britain:

• A poet and writer, he was a close friend of Whitman and Tagore;
• A strong advocate of sexual freedom, living in a gay community near Sheffield, he had a profound influence on both D H Lawrence and E M Forster;
• A socialist and philosopher, he was instrumental in the foundation of the Fabian Society and the Labour Party.

Part 1 of his archive includes all 24 guardbooks of his correspondence with figures such as Annie Besant, Isadora Duncan, Havelock Ellis, Roger Fry, Mahatma Gandhi, James Keir Hardie, J K Kinney, Jack London, George Merrill, E D Morel, William Morris, E R Pease, John Ruskin, Olive Schreiner and Rabindranath Tagore.

We also commence coverage of his manuscripts, including his Cambridge University Extension lectures; an account of his meeting with Whitman; and papers on Towards Democracy, Love's Coming of Age, Homogenic Love and many other works